Explosive.



duced to a minimum.

UNITED STATES PATENT-i- OFFICE; f

HERMAN E. sTURCKE, on NEW YORK, N,Y.-,Ass1CNo BY MESNE- AssIGN; MnNTs, TO THE ALBA CHEMICAL COMPANY, on SAME PLACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.64,222, dated April 24., 1900.

Application tiled January 5, 1900. Serial No. 434. p im ns-l To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMAN EDWARD.

tain new and useful Improvement. in Ex-' plosives, of which the following is a description.

My invention relates to improvements in to explosives characterized by the employment of nitrate of ammonium in novel proportions, whereby the cost of man'ufacture'may be reduced and the explosive character-of the compound increased. Nitrate of ammonium has been employed in the manufacture of explosives prior to my invention, but always insuch large propor- .tions-as notrto secure the best results either as to the efiectiveness of the compound or as to its cost of manufacture. I have discovcred that when the proportion of nitrate of ammonium is kept within certain limits the relative effectiveness of the compound is increased, while its cost of manufactureis re- My improved explosive can be produced of numerous well-known ingredients heretofore employed in this art,

which ingredients may' vary widely in their proportions; but the improved explosive is always characterized by the employment of nitrate of ammoni um within prescribed limits. My improved explosive consists,essentiall y, of nitrate of ammonium, an organic explosive nitro compound-such as nitroglycerin, ni-- used in my improved explosive isnitroglyc erin, the.' ,preferre'd oxidizing material is n itrat'e of sodium,and the preferred dope is wood fiber.

Other materials may be-added T as ingredients in the improved explosive-ms,

purpose of neutralizing the nitro bodies, or'

ammonium oxalate or carbonate may be introduced for the production of indifferent gases, as is well understood in the art.

Although, as I-have stated, the explosive" nium has been recognized and such material hasbeen frequently utilized in explosive mixtures, yet the proportions in which I'emand; oxidizing character of nitrate ofanimo ploy nitrate of am monium with the other in gredients dilfer materiallyfrom-the proporparts in each instance being stated in weight:

San 1ple, r. A. B. D. I 'E. F. G. H.

, Nitroglycerin; 40 30 20 I15 40 3O 20 15 wood fiber 16 -1s 21 l 22 12 10 10 Sodium nitrate 37 48 49 r 52 38 46 54 5t) Ammonium nitrate 7' e I, .11 10 Vaseline I 5 5 Sulphur 1 In each 'of'the examples of my improved explosive above given the nitroglycerin is combined with, at least sufiicient wood fiber,

. and in some instances with more thansufli cient wood fiber, to firmly absorb andretain it, as in the manufacture of ordinary dynamite; Instead of using more 'wood fibe'rth'anis required to firmly retain the nitroglycerin the proportion of wood fiber maybe reduced until only so muchis employed as will act as an eifecti've dope, and some other combustible or oxygen-consuming matter-such as Vaseline, oil, fat, res-in, carbon, sulphur,

&c.-may be added to consume the available dizing agent or agents. 'lhus onc'molecu'le of nitrateof sodium will furnish two and onehalf atoms of available oxygen, the reaction being thus expressed:

On the other hand, one molecule of nitrate of ammonium will furnish in exploding only one atom of available oxygen, the reaction being thus expressed:

NH NO =N +2H O+Q My improved explosive in every instance is characterized by the intermixture 0f oxidizing materials in proper proportionsto-generate suiiicient available oxygen to completely oxidize all carbon and hydrogen present to carbonic acid and waterand eventually to oxidize the sulphur when present to sul phurous acid, and the characteristic part of my composition is that from five to twenty per cent. of the total available oxygen necessary for this purpose is furnished by the decomposition of the nitrate of ammonium, the remainder of the available. oxygen (eighty to ninety-five per cent.) being furnished in the form of the oxidizing materiahsuch as sodium nitrate, which is preferable, or potassium nitrate, barium nitrate, potassium chlorate, &c.

All the explosive compounds made heretofore utilizing nitrate of ammonium contain a very much larger proportion of this producer of available oxygen than 'Ihave indicated. The larger proportion-of the ammonium powders, ammonium dynamite, safetypowders, 6350., heretofore suggested'contain nitrate of ammonium, if at all, in'suflicient proportion to generate from forty to one hundred per cent. of the available oxygen, and in no instance prior to my invention has this proportion been reduced to result in the generation of less than twenty-fiveperce'nt. of the available oxygen. I have foundsome very great advantages in the use of nitrate.

gen is furnished by nitrate of ammonium,

the remainder of the available oxygen being furnished by the other oxidizing materials, preferably sodium nitrate. The theoretical explanation is found in the fact that the decomposition of the ammonium nitrate furnishes a maximum amount of gases, while the decomposition of sodium nitrate furnishes a maximum amount of oxygen, and in the consumption of the latter by combustion the sodium nitrate furnishes a maximum amount of heat orenergy. A decrease in the relative amount of ammonium nitrate below that nec: essary to evolve, say, six per cent. of the available oxygen decreases the efficiencyand cost of the resulting explosive. An increase in the relative amount of ammonium nitrate require.

According to proper selection of the composition a very quick or a slow powder, the former being of greater projective force and the latter of greater recoiL- Thus b'y increasing the proportion of nitroglycerin or by decreasing the proportion thereof the resulting-explosive will be relatively quick or slow, asth-e case may My improved explosive made up in the proportions stated costs from fifteen tothirtyfive per cent-less than explosives of equal force nowon the market. The large volume of steam and nitrogen created-by the detonation of my composition, the complete combustion,- and the reduction of temperature, heat being absorbed by the disassociation of the nitrate of ammonium, all combine to make my explosive particularly suitable as a safe powder in-fiery mines. My improved explosive may contain much less nitroglycerin than powders of equal force now in use, and it is therefore safer to handle and to manufacture. The finer division of the nitroglycerin, or, in other words, its distribution over a larger amount of vehicle, renders my composition less sensitive to low temperatures and less liable to freeze.

Any well-known process may be utilized for the manufacture of the improved explosive, such as would suggest itself to those skilled in the art. A preferable plan of procedure, however, is to first mix the nitroglycerin or other explosive nitro substance with the absorbent or dope and to mix separately therefrom the oxygen-producers (nitrate of ammonium and nitrate of soda or the proper substitutes for the latter) in finelyground condition with the combustible nonabsorbent,'if used,(vaseline, oil, fat-,tar, &c.,) and finally to mix the nitroglycerin absorbent mixture with a nitrate paste. Finally a small percentage of carbonate of .soda, lime,

or magnesia maybe added to counteract any acidity of the nitroglycerin.

1. An explosive consisting of an explosive, organic nitro compound, an oxygen-consuming material, ammonium nitrate, and an additional oxidizing material, the oxidizing materials being combined in the proportions by weight, substantially as set fortlnwhereby the ammonium nitrate will furnish from five to twenty per cent. of the available oxygen, substantially as described.

2. An explosive consisting of an explosive, organic nitro compound, an oxygen-consuming absorbent material, ammonium nitrate, and an additional oxidizing material, the oxidizing materials being combined in the proportions by weight substantially as set forth, whereby the ammonium nitrate will furnish from five to twenty per-cent. of the available oxygen, substantially as described.

3. An improved dynamite consisting of nitroglycerin, an oxygen consuming absorbent material, ammoniu m nitrate, and an additional oxidizing material, the oxidizing materials being combined in the proportions by weight substantially as set forth, whereby the ammonium nitrate will furnish from five to twenty per cent. of the available oxygen, substantially as described.

4. An improved dynamite consisting of nitroglycerin, an oxygen consuming absorbent material; ammonium nitrate, and sodium nitrate, said nitrates being combined in the proportions by weight substantially as set forth, whereby the ammonium nitrate will furnish from five to twenty per cent. of the available oxygen, substantially as described.

5. An improved dynamite consisting of nitroglycerin, wood fiber, ammonium nitrate and sodium nitrate, said nitrates beingcombined in the proportions by .weight, snbstan- HERMAN E.- s'ri'rnoicn.

\Vitnesses:

JNO. R. TAYLOR, FRANK L. DYER. 

